What Is Hidden Inside

Schools are supposed to be the temples of knowledge, sacred places of peaceful education. Thousands of pages of information, countless studies, experiments, observations, all written down and accessible for students to see. They are supposed to be taught under the supervision of wise and kind teachers, who know how to find a way to teach anyone.

Schools are supposed to be places for studying. They are supposed to make children into responsible and smart adults. They are supposed to teach how to live and make a living, how to find a job, how to be successful in life, and how to keep that flame of curiosity each person possesses since their very birth.

Instead, schools are places with toxic environments unsuitable for growing up. Teachers don't care about their subjects. Children are left alone, and the weak and defenseless are crushed. Insulted, humiliated, even beaten up and crippled. No understanding, only jumping to conclusions and shouting louder than others.

Some people endure the hell. They might even come out happy and actually educated. Live a good life, find new friends, and maybe even make a family.

However, others are not so lucky. They grow up into hateful and depressed people because they were abused and bullied by stronger kids. Unsocial, undesirable, and extremely lonely, the victims of the inefficient system either try to make their life better, hide somewhere and use their imagination for what the reality didn't give them or they end up killing themselves.

Or killing others, which is also a possibility.

Hopefully, they had friends to pull them out of the pit of failure and hate. Otherwise, the victims become the hunters, the predators. Unrelenting, unforgiving... Insane.

And burn shall all those standing in their path.

Princess Luna was worryingly looking over Iclyn. During her stay, the alicorn noticed her body twitching suddenly, and then a blood stain appeared on the sheets. Luna examined the sudden wound.

"Round..." she muttered to herself as she carefully unfolded the wing. "All the way through... Penetration from the back." she paused for a few moments, gears turning in her head. "She was running, and someone attacked her..." she assumed. "A ranged weapon, definitely." she concluded, and then sighed deeply. She hoped it wouldn't have come to this.

Luna paused for a few moments, gathering her thoughts. She wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and then licked her dry lips. She sighed shakily and gulped. She was trying to reach Iclyn's mind and communicate with her but something was blocking her way. It was something out of her control.

"It's safe to assume that the mental block extends to Iclyn's mind." Luna figured out. "I just need to..."

"Sister, how are you?" a familiar voice spoke from behind the alicorn, slightly startling her. She was so focused on her own thoughts she didn't hear the sound of hooves growing closer.

"Oh, hello Tia." Luna replied, turning around to face her elder sister. "I'm more or less fine. However, I can't say the same in regards to Sirius and Iclyn."

Celestia's gaze passed bloodstained sheets and an outstretched Iclyn's wing. The wound was already being healed by Luna as her magic encompassed it.

"Is it dangerous for her to continue exploring his mind?" Celestia asked.

"Judging by her wound, yes." the nightly princess nodded, a frown on her face. "However, I can't pull the two apart. Their minds are linked, and I could severely hurt them both by forcibly cutting the link. Their minds might not recover from something like that, and I won't be held responsible for this." she paused. "I've not made contact with Iclyn yet. Sirius' strong mental block extended into her mind, protecting it from my influence. His mind is unstable but very durable and strong."

"Prior to... the duel, was Iclyn able to help Sirius?"

"All her efforts was nullified by my mistake, I'm afraid." Luna sighed. "However, I know for certain that they are or at least were in love. It could be that Sirius now considers that love fake, but hopefully he doesn't think that way." she looked at the former human. "From what I know from Cadance and Anastasia, I can assume that the two were intimately close at least once. It's highly probable that their bond strengthened during their intimacy." she looked down. "I... I hope I didn't make Sirius believe that all was fake. He maybe believes that... he was raped." she shuddered. "It would be truly terrible."

"Luna, are you blaming yourself for it?" Celestia asked softly.

Luna was silent, her eyes looking at her own hooves and refusing to rise. Her ears drooped as a frown made its way onto her face.

"I... I do." she admitted. "The letter I have sent so long ago should've never made it to Iclyn. It has set Sirius off. I angered him by my impulsive decision to go right into his dreams instead of slowly gaining his trust, too." she looked up at Celestia. "If only I wasn't so unthoughtful, he would be happy with the one he loves." she looked down again. "So yes, I do blame myself. I try to help ponies in any way I can, but I couldn't help Sirius, the one who needed my help the most."

"Maybe you can rebuild your relationship with him someday. No one holds grudges forever." Celestia replied.

"Maybe... But I don't think that Sirius is the one to easily forget what was done to him, be it good or bad. Especially the bad."

After her encounter with the Figure, Iclyn managed to calm down and find Stanislav in time before the classes began. He was sitting at the desk to the side of the class but not on the last row. As the teacher started talking, the pegasus took a place near the boy and watched him as he wrote down different things.

Her ear twitched as she heard a whisper from behind. She turned around and saw a kid trying to get Stanislav's attention.

The boy paid it no mind as he absent-minded stacked pens into a square, and then raised it. However, his eyes often turned to the side, acknowledging the whispers from behind. He ignored them for another few minutes until they became too annoying for him. Anger was boiling inside him, Iclyn could feel it as if it were her own. She felt how he felt, and she too was angered at the kid behind Stanislav. Why was the boy bothered anyway? He was being quiet and didn't bother anyone himself.

"What?" he asked after turning around.

"Stanislav!" the teacher called. "Attention, please."

Stanislav immediately turned back and looked at the blackboard. The kid who was bothering him giggled behind his back. The boy clenched his fists, the skin on the knuckles becoming pale. His face twisted into a frown, sparks of anger in his dark-green eyes as he stared dead ahead.

Suddenly, he swiftly turned around, grabbed the kid's head, and with a surprising force slammed it against the table. Before the kid or anyone else could react, Stanislav lifted his head and hit it against the desk for the second time, breaking the kid's nose.

"Stanislav Zima!" the teacher yelled, and the boy ceased the beating. He turned back and stared into the eyes of the teacher, his eyes bearing a heavy and unnerving look. "You go to the principal right now!"

Stanislav stayed silent for a few moments, his fists clenched, all blood gone from his face. His body was shaking from the adrenaline coursing through his tense body. The whole class was silent save for the kid behind Stanislav, who was whimpering and wiping the blood from under his nose.

"He didn't start it." someone else said. Stanislav turned to that person and smiled slightly.

"Violence is unacceptable, and I will not let it slide regardless of who started it." the teacher replied sternly. "Stanislav, don't make me repeat twice. Stand up and go to the principal."

Slowly, the boy stood up, his blazing eyes looking at the teacher. He walked to the door and exited the classroom.

Iclyn was speechless. She began to understand a statement Sirius had made some time ago. He didn't seem to care about it either, at least not when he was way younger.

I was always violent.

"I'm afraid I'll have to call your parents, young man." the principal said to Stanislav. "It's not the first incident this month. Most importantly, it's not an incident. You purposefully hurt him, without restraint." the man squinted his eyes slightly, his frown deepening. "Or regret."

"What would calling my parents do?" Stanislav asked in a monotonous voice.

"Hopefully, you will see reason if it is spoken by those who gifted you with life." the principal replied. "If not... Well, I'm afraid your parents will have to find a different school for you. I doubt that any school tolerates such violence, however just or unjust it may be."

The boy stayed silent this time, opting to look at the floor instead. His hands were restless as the fingers tapped against his knees.

"As for you, young lady," the man continued, turning to Iclyn. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw him looking directly at her with a stare she found all too familiar. "Unlawful entry is penalized by death."

The boy turned to look at Iclyn as well and stared right into her eyes, looking through her very soul. Both people in the room had their eyes on her, their unblinking stares making the pegasus seem small and very vulnerable.

"I, I came to help!" she replied, her voice loud and stuttering. The silence was pressing on her, forcing her down, and she felt the need to break it. "Sirius... If you can h-hear me, I love you! I j-just want to help you! Please, l-let me help you!"

A shadow appeared behind the two humans. A tall, thin shadow of vaguely humanoid appearance. Two burning purple eyes were glowing, joining the stares of the other two.

"I won't leave you, Sirius!" Iclyn yelled, trying to make the deafening silence go away. "I will find a way to bring you back! You deserve to live, you deserve to have more!"

"No one deserves to live." the three voices spoke in monotonous unison. The young, the old, and the real. "All these people surrounding me... They deserved to die."

Suddenly, the man collapsed, a hole appearing in the center of his forehead. His blood streamed onto the floor and turned into a crimson puddle.

"You have no idea what my world is." two voices spoke, two emotionless stares remaining. "You will never understand humans or my nature. We are all filth, the worst of all ever created. We have given birth to what you have never thought of. Weapons of mass destruction... Deadly and effective. They can wipe out all life, and no amount of reasoning or kind words will prevent it.

"Each one of us is a killing machine. Each time we see a stranger, the first thought we have is how to kill them. Princess Luna, you, any other pony I've met or was friendly with, I imagined killing all of you."

"Y-you're lying! You wouldn't love me if it were true!" Iclyn disagreed, fighting back the urge to run away. She had a feeling that the one speaking to her wasn't Sirius, at least not entirely him. She knew his emotions towards her were genuine. How could one fake love? How could one fake being so shy and uncertain about it?

"We are manipulative. You ponies are easy to fool. I used you to make myself feel better. Nothing more, nothing less." the two voices replied. "There was no love, no attraction. Just a desire to dominate, rape and subdue. You gave in willingly... And it's the best part about it. Psychological torture is what we are very good at."

"I don't believe you." Iclyn stated firmly. "I know the real Sirius would never be like that."

"Oh, you are so sure?" the voices asked sarcastically. "You can always see for yourself."

Iclyn found herself in an open field. Snow was falling from the sky, coating the land in a white blanket. The sun was hidden behind gray clouds, and the snow was sparkling in what little sunlight there was. The wind was blowing, making the snowflakes fly and swirl.

Near the field, an asphalt road was situated. Cars were passing by regularly, the harsh hums of their engines disrupting the calmness and serenity of the snowy day.

A familiar car could be seen driving along the road. There was also a roar of an engine, but it wasn't coming from that car.

Suddenly, one of the cars from the opposite lane slipped on the road, spiraled out of control and crashed into the familiar car. The sounds of metal scraping against metal filled the surroundings as the two cars flipped over and stopped at the side of the road.

The familiar car's left half was almost completely destroyed, twisted into a mass of metal and plastic with something red visible on some of its exposed parts.

And all became silent.